(This is a reeeally long post, so my apologies in advance!)

I'm ready to chuck my poor old computer out the window (pardon the pun) despite
its many years of service!!

I'm using a Dell Dimension 400 PII with Win95 and AOL5.0 (the most recent
version that works smoothly on my oldie computer).  I have 128MB of RAM and 9
Gigs of HD space (out of 20) free. Yes, I know I'm utterly lame for using AOL
as my ISP, as well as having a decrepit old computer.  What can I say, since
1998 both have served me perfectly well, nearly problem-free.  Also? I'm too
poor to upgrade at the moment.   

Ever since Friday morning I have been unable to access any websites. I can log
on to AOL but receive an "Action Canceled" or
"res://C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHDOCLC.DLL/dnserror.htm" error page when trying to
access the web via either AOL's IE browser, my MS IE 5.5 sp1, or Netscape.  

HOWEVER, when yesterday on a whim I installed AOL3.0, together with its
proprietary version of IE3.0, THAT version *did* give me access to the web.  A
sucky, pre-CSS, pre-DHTML, pre-PHP version of the web, but the web
notwithstanding.  And at least it indicates ... well, that somehow my ability
to get onto the web still exists.

(In case you're wondering why I'm posting this here, on a Win95 group: to see
if this was just an AOL problem, I downloaded and tried a free demo
version of MSN -- THAT didn't work either.  So I think it might be a
PC/driver/Win95 thing, not necessarily an AOL or IE issue (since I can't get
onto the web using Netscape either))  

Things I should tell anyone who might be able to help:

- Nothing has changed on my computer other than re-installing AOL5.0 last week.
(My AOL had been showing a blank screen, no sign-in screen at all.  This is a
problem that happened once or twice over the past several years but was usually
fixed by using the backup main.idx file; this time, nothing doing).  

- The reinstalled AOL5.0, which I downloaded from http://www.oldversions.com
and scanned to ensure it was virus-free, worked without a problem for several
days.  Then, early Friday afternoon when I signed on, I was suddenly unable to
access the web.  Mind you, when I'd last signed on 3 hours earlier, there had
been no trouble whatsoever.  What the heck could've happened??

- I've already gone through many fixes that the helpful volunteers and an AOL
tech support guy have offered as possible solutions ... to no avail.  Here's
what I've already tried (not necessarily in chron order, since some kinda
cancel each other out):

* Cleared my cache, cookies, history files

* Ran a virus scan, came up clear.  (Trouble is, since I can't get internet
access, my McAfee hasn't been able to update itself .. so if this is a new
virus, it wouldn't have caught it!  Catch-22)

* Confirmed the correct settings (binders, IP addresses, WANS, etc.) in the
Network Adapters properties area

* Did a "repair" of IE5.5

* Made certain there were no parental controls blocking my screennames

* Went through the process as described in the oft-recommended Microsoft
article "Cannot Browse the Internet Using Internet Explorer and AOL," such as
disabling the Communications/Dial Up Networking component and removing the
Winsock2 key in the Registry, then reinstalling the DUN and restarting Windows

* Upgraded to AOL6, then when that didn't work, to AOL7 (they don't run
smoothly on my old warhorse but I have been able to get to the web on them in
the past -- just very slowly).  I also uninstalled all my AOL versions and did
clean installs of each, respectively

* Did CTRL-ALT-DEL to exit everything but Explorer, Systray and AOLtray to
clear my computer's resources

* As recommended by AOL, I visited Keyword COMPUTER CHECK-UP to no avail --
apparently you need to access the web to utilize this service, LOL; same
problem with FIXIT and AUTOFIXIT, and AOL's own Live Help one-on-one tech
support chat service.  

* Checked to see if winsock.dll and wsock32.dll were the correct sizes.  They
weren't, and I copied backup versions and replaced them.  Didn't help.  

WHEW, sorry for all this detail, but as you can see, I've been going nuts here.
I am desperate to get my life back in order -- I'm a freelancer who relies on
my computer for work, and this is just so frustrating.  I'm afraid that soon
the only thing left will be to reinstall Windows, which I guess would mean
wiping my entire hard drive?  I'm not even sure I have all my program disks ...
oy.  Please please help if you can!

-- Kira
Visit "About Schuyler Falls"
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